In January, Belmont Hill convened in the Hamilton Chapel to kickstart the review of its history with a Centennial Arts Chapel that celebrated the last 100 years of arts. To begin the events, Mr. Duarte spoke on the achievements and experience of Belmont Hill students in the arts, including trying new things ranging from ceramics to orchestra. Following, Mr. DiResta spoke about the history of Belmont Hill arts, from the glee club started at the school’s inception to Andy Cadiff ’73 and his contributions to the arts fifty years ago, to now and the excellence displayed by Jeremy Eaten ’23 in the arts. A representative from each era was in that chapel and, Mr. DiResta remarked on how they are all connected through the arts.
After hearing from two art teachers, Bill Achtmeyer ’73 took the stage to “talk about my best friend Andy Cadiff.” He spoke highly of his classmate in his introduction which included his success as a movie and television producer and director. Andy Cadiff ’73 has directed a plethora of successful TV sitcoms from Spin City (1996), to Chasing Liberty (2004), and Young and Hungry (2014). He also highlighted Andy’s artistic ability while at Belmont Hill where he wrote and directed a play, “Poison Ivy,” which details a character’s impossible decision between Princeton and Harvard.
Finally, after his introduction, Andy talked about his time as a producer and director in Hollywood. He talked about how the business he was in, where someone’s success was based on how funny they were. He emphasized this point by pointing out that he is paid whether or not someone laughs at the show and that it is not on the actors, but on him to provide this service. Finally, he talked about writing the play “The Senior Slump” and how arts were not a prominent part of Belmont Hill as they are today while he was in school.
After Andy’s speech, the B flats, as well as some members of the class of 1973, performed two scenes from his play “The Senior Slump” with Mr. Diresta. Then to conclude the chapel, the B-Flats with Mr. Patterson and the orchestra with Mr. Fiori led the school in the Belmont Hill centennial song, ringing throughout the chapel.
